Reviews.

“The Elfin Dell and Other Verses,” by Johannes C. Andersen (A. H. and A. W. Reed, Dunedin). These appealing verses are the personification of the man who wrote them. They breathe of the culture, of the deep appreciation of things beautiful, of the serenity and sincerity of that fine old gentleman who looks after his precious charges in the Turnbull Library. Really, I should not refer to Johannes as “old,” for although he conveys the dignity of years, his heart is ever young. That is why he captures so beautifully the wonderful songs of the birds and the manifold joys of the rare things of nature that live around us. In the elfin dell of his mind busy smiths are beating until we “hear the anvils ring” in the verse he gives to us. This is a book for all New Zealand verse lovers. The format of the book is in keeping with the verse it contains.

“Brave Music,” by Ernest Wells (Angus & Robertson, Sydney). This is a panoramic novel of great force and interest, a worthy successor to the same author's much-quoted “Hemp.” There is no escaping its compelling attraction. A murder is disclosed in the first page and we follow the murderer to his refuge from justice (but not from his remorse) to a lonely lighthouse. Here we listen through many chapters to the relentless beat of the “grey-beard waves” (so powerful are the word pictures of the sea that we can almost visualise portions of “Man of Arran”). Frequently the author hurries us away from his lonely lighthouse to introduce us to other scenes and characters and gradually the whole composite plot is laid before us and is unravelled in a gripping finale. It is a big, many-sided novel handled in a convincing and powerful fashion.

“Australia's Vanishing Race,” by Frederic Wood Jones, F.R.S. (Angus & Robertson, Sydney), contains the text of three broadcast talks given under the auspices of the Australian Broadcasting Commission on the much-discussed aborigines. The author is Professor of Anatomy at the University of Melbourne. The book is well illustrated.

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